


Love, Danny

by mymcdanno



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Inspired by Love Rosie, M/M, Mutual Pining, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-07
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-02-27 22:16:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18748183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mymcdanno/pseuds/mymcdanno
Summary: McDanno AU based on the movie Love, Rosie.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This took me forever, but I had fun writing it so I really hope you guys enjoy it! This first part might be a little confusing for the ones who haven’t seen the movie, but I’m hoping it will all make sense with the next few chapters! Please let me know what you think :)

Danny faintly heard the clinking noise of a fork hitting a glass, a clear sign from Kono that it was now time for his speech. Reluctantly he stood up, trying to pull himself together and out of his thoughts, looking over the other wedding guests who were now already watching him.

Steve, the love of Danny’s life and his best friend since they were five years old, smiled up at him from his seat beside the woman who was now his wife. As much as it pained him Danny managed to smile back, because he had to. He had to keep up the act, let them know that this had to be one of the happiest days of his life, no matter how much it actually hurt him or crushed his heart into what felt like a million tiny little pieces.

**

_**12 years earlier, Danny’s 18th birthday party** _

The music at the bar was loud, one of Danny’s favorite songs playing while he dragged Steve out to the dance floor. Tonight had been so amazing and he’d never felt so free before. It was like he could do whatever he wanted, and yeah, it might be the tequila shots, but he just really needed Steve to be closer right now so Danny pulled him in until their foreheads were touching.

They were in their own little world, the people around them forgotten as they moved together, the music taking over. There was nothing standing between them now, and when Danny looked into Steve’s eyes something changed. All it took was one look down at Steve’s lips, then up again, and then Steve was closing the small gap between them. Everything that had been building up between them all those years snapped.

They kissed, fucking finally, and Danny moaned softly when Steve’s hand slid into his hair. The moment lasted for what seemed like forever, and they only pulled away when they needed to breathe, still staying as close as possible. The way Steve was looking at him, like this was all he’d ever wanted in his whole life, it was overwhelming. Danny needed to do something, to show him that he felt the same, that-

Danny slid on the slightly wet floor and fell down, the alcohol finally getting to him as he passed out.

**

The morning after was dreadful. Danny woke up with an awful headache and he groaned, hiding his face in the pillow. No way was he going to drink like that ever again, ever.

It was then that he heard the voices downstairs, recognizing Steve’s voice instantly as he talked to Danny’s mom. He heard the footsteps as Steve made his way up to Danny’s room, the door opening very slowly.

“Why’s everybody shouting?” Danny mumbled, making Steve chuckle as he sat down on the bed. “God, I’m so embarrassed about last night,” he continued.

“Well, no, y- you don’t have to be,” Steve answered carefully.

“It was awful, I behaved so badly. Oh, I feel sick even thinking about it.”

There was only silence for a few moments before Steve answered, but Danny didn’t notice it. “About… which part?”

“All of it. It never happened, okay? Steve, you can’t tell anyone.”

“…. right.” Steve said quietly, suddenly looking very busy with his hands.

“How did we even get home from the hospital?” Danny finally said, sitting up.

“My parents came to get us. And now they’re saying I’m a bad influence.”

“Well, you are,” Danny teased, smirking at him.

“Am not! Come here,” Steve shouted as he tackled Danny down on to the bed, and they tickled each other as their laughter filled up the room.

**

After that, life became almost normal again. Almost.

Steve had accepted the fact that Danny didn’t want to remember the kiss, decided to move on, no matter how difficult it was. He was just glad it hadn’t ruined their friendship. They’d been going on as normally as they could, even if Steve had to ignore the jealousy that flared up when he saw other people flirting with Danny. More often than not it was Rachel, a girl who went to their school who Steve didn’t like at all. That was the case at this very moment, the beach party they were at giving him very mixed feelings.

“Can you believe she invited me to the school dance?” Danny said, smiling as he sat down next to him, and Steve felt something turning in his stomach.

“Oh. Well, what did you tell her?” He asked, trying his best to sound like he didn’t care at all, busying himself with the stones on the beach.

“No, obviously. I’m going with you, you idiot,” Danny said, nudging his shoulder, which made Steve smile.

“Hi, Steve.” The voice above them made them both look up, Catherine towering over them, beautiful as always. She’d been hinting at Steve for a while now to ask her out, take her to the dance, and he thought maybe now he should. It might help with getting over Danny. “I missed you at the library today.”

“Uh, yeah, sorry about that, I’ve been very busy-”

“Don’t be a stranger, okay?” She smiled and her hair swung behind her as she walked away to sit with her friends.

“Wow, you’re awful at this,” Danny teased him, and they both chuckled.

“You know, she wants me to take her to the dance,” Steve said, testing the waters, seeing what kind of reaction it would get.

“Really?” They were quiet for a few moments, watching the sea, but Steve couldn’t read the expression on Danny’s face as he answered. “Well, take her. If it means that much to you.”

“But you would have no one to go with,” Steve tried.

“I got asked by the hottest girl in our year, Steve, I think I’m fine,” Danny said, the weird expression on his face gone as he smiled at him.

“What, so actually this is convenient for you?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Okay, well. I’ll go ask her then,” Steve said, standing up, walking over to where Catherine sat with her friends. He didn’t dare look back at Danny. This had to work, he hoped. Please let this work.

**

The night of the school dance was about what Danny had expected, and he couldn’t help but feel weird as he watched Steve dancing with Catherine. They hadn’t talked as much recently, but the news had spread pretty quickly over the school - Steve wasn’t a virgin anymore. Neither was Danny, to be honest, but it made Danny feel something he didn’t quite understand. To try and make the feeling go away, he pulled Rachel even closer to him.

Steve ended up driving Danny home. The girls had gone to the after party to have fun with their friends, but Danny hadn’t really wanted to go. Steve, always ready to drop everything to help him, had offered to keep him company and they had finally talked for a little while after the others left. Things felt much easier between them now, more like the old days. Currently they were stopped in front of Danny’s house, but he didn’t get out just yet. The comfortable silence felt nice after the awkwardness of the last few months.

“What if we just- got out of here?” Steve said after a minute, turning his head to watch Danny.

“I think one of those burger places might still be open-”

“No, I mean out of here. Like, to another country, maybe. Somewhere we can learn what we’ve always wanted to, where you could take hotel management courses, where I could go to a good medical school…”

Danny was taken aback, and he studied Steve’s face for a while before he answered. “You- are you serious?”

Steve nodded. “You’ve always wanted your own hotel, right? Danny, you’re amazing. There’s nothing you can’t do if you put your mind to it.”

Danny felt the joy spreading in his chest and then he was nodding too, a huge grin lighting up his face.

**

After  _a lot_  of planning, convincing their parents that they were in fact going to be okay, finding the right schools, the only thing left was waiting for the acceptance letters. Boston University was Danny’s first choice, while Steve was going for a scholarship to Harvard. It had been a tough few months, but if it worked out it would all be worth it, he thought.

**

_Dear Mr. Williams, congratulations. We are pleased to offer you a seat at Boston University._

**

_I’m pregnant._

No matter how many times he read the text from Rachel, Danny didn’t know what to feel. So many emotions were flowing trough him that it was hard to focus on only one of them. What was he supposed to do now?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s the second chapter!! Really hope you guys enjoy it, and please let me know what you think :)

The thoughts swirling around in Danny’s head were starting to make him feel dizzy, so he sat down with his head in his hands as he tried to calm down. Everything that had happened in the last few days - the happiness he’d felt when he got the acceptance letter, the exciting thought of leaving this place and starting over somewhere new doing what he loved with Steve by his side - it all went away with a simple text. _I’m pregnant._

No matter how he looked at it, Danny had a choice to make and this was something he had to do on his own. He picked up his phone where it had dropped down on to the floor, took a deep breath, and called Rachel.

After the awkward phone call he drove over to her house and they talked for hours. Eventually they decided to really give this a try, and there was a part of Danny that already loved this baby with everything he had. In the end it wasn’t really a question - he would stay to help Rachel.

Now he only had to tell Steve.

**

Steve came running into the restaurant where Danny was waiting for him, and it felt unusual. Steve was never late. Not until he had actually started dating Catherine at least.

“Sorry, sorry, Catherine was- well, anyway-” he panted as he fell down into a chair at their table, lifting up the letter in his hands so Danny could see. “I- I’ve got some news.”

“Me too,” Danny said, trying his best to smile, fidgeting as he suddenly became very interested in the table between them.

“Read it!” Steve said happily, handing him the letter, obviously too excited to notice the tone in Danny’s voice or how unlike himself Danny was being.

Carefully Danny took the letter, reading it over, his jaw dropping. “Scholarship to Harvard! Steve, that’s- that’s so great, congratulations!” he said, so happy for Steve, but his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes and he felt a deep pang in his chest. This made everything so much more difficult.

“It’s unbelievable, right?” When Danny just stared at the letter instead of answering, Steve slowly tilted his head. “You heard from Boston University yet?”

“Uh, no,” Danny lied, as he put the letter down on the table between them. Now wasn’t the right time. “I haven’t heard from them.”

Immediately a concerned look flashed over Steve’s face, but it went away quickly. “Oh, well, you’ll get in. I’m sure you’ll hear from them soon.”

Danny couldn’t bear to hear that, so he changed the subject. “So- what about Catherine, have you told her?”

“Ah, she’ll be fine,” Steve answered, waving a hand like it didn’t matter, and wow. What was that supposed to mean?

“Don’t you care what she’s going to think about you rushing off like this?”

Steve watched him curiously, like he’d never seen him before. His voice was gentle. “Okay, what is it? What’s wrong?”

“What?”

Steve chuckled. “Well, you’re defending Catherine. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, nothing is wrong.” Danny tried his best to sound sincere, but it didn’t look like Steve was buying it. He didn’t push it, though.

“Well, we’re on our way to Boston! Come on, we did it,” Steve said, playfully pushing Danny’s shoulder. “My flight is in three days. You need to go ahead and book your ticket.”

“Sure. I- I’ve got some stuff to sort out first, but… I’ll be there.” Danny didn’t know why he said it, this wasn’t at all what he actually needed to say. But at least it seemed to make Steve relax.

**

The next three days went way too fast.

Leaving Steve at the airport was the hardest thing Danny had ever had to do, but this was his decision. It was too late to change it now. Before he knew it Danny was rambling, one hand on Steve’s arm so he wouldn’t run away. “Be careful. Don’t get blown up, or fall out of the sky, or fly into a flock of birds-”

“Danny, I can delay if you need me to. It’s okay.” Steve chuckled.

Danny stopped for a full second, but then just shook his head. “No. No, you’re getting on that plane.”

Suddenly Danny was being pulled into the tightest hug, and he closed his eyes as he hugged Steve back with everything he had. Their foreheads were touching when they finally pulled away, and it would have been so easy to lean in and kiss him, Danny thought. But now really wasn’t the right time.

Danny had thought he’d figured it all out. He’d move to Boston, study, get a great job, come back at 27 and open a hotel. Then get married and have kids. Now, that had all obviously changed and on top of that Steve had to go. Life was funny like that, sometimes.

**

A month went by, and somehow Danny managed to come up with an excuse to tell Steve for every time he didn’t get on the flight to Boston.

One thing he couldn’t do, however, was lie to his parents about what had happened. They were surprisingly excited and supportive about the whole situation, and wanted to know everything as soon as it happened. When Danny came home after taking Rachel to her midpregnancy ultrasound he was immediately flooded with questions.

“Oh, is it a boy or a girl? Do you have a name yet?”

Danny didn’t try to hide is smile now, feeling how proud he already was of this little baby. “It’s a girl, and we’re naming her Grace.”

**

After that everything happened so fast. The months flew by.

Danny had gotten a new job at a coffee house where he quickly became friends with his coworker, a badass but wonderful girl named Kono. She was supportive of his situation, and having someone his own age to talk to about all of this (including everything with Steve) meant so much to Danny.

Then suddenly his baby girl was here, and she was everything to him. It was all he could do to try not to cry when she cried, keeping her close as he promised to keep her safe from every mean thing in this world.

**

Danny was folding laundry and putting piles of baby things into bags to bring to Rachel when the doorbell rang. Figuring it was the postman or something he went to open the door, smile on his face, but when he saw who was actually standing there he froze.

“Steve?”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi friends!! I am so sorry for how long this took, but finally I can share the third chapter with you!! As always I really hope you guys enjoy it, and please let me know what you think :)

Danny’s mind was immediately put into panic mode.

As happy as he was to finally see Steve again, there was no way Danny was ready to tell him everything yet. Things were still so complicated, baby stuff was everywhere, Danny had a  _daughter_  now and what was Steve even doing, showing up uninvited like this, all gorgeous in his new clothes and leaning against his door frame like some kind of model-

Danny shook his head to stop his train of thought, trying to find a way to get out of this instead. “What are- what are you doing here?”

“Just back for the weekend, thought I’d surprise you.” Steve was smiling, but there was something in is eyes Danny couldn’t quite figure out.

“Great! Yeah, let’s go for a coffee then-” Danny said, grabbing his jacket and already half out of the door by the time Steve stopped him by putting a hand on his chest.

“No no, let’s stay here. Why don’t you put the kettle on?”

_Shit_ , Danny thought. He stared for a moment before nodding slightly, moving back inside to let Steve in. As Steve took his jacket off, Danny ran into the house and started trying to hide some of the baby stuff lying around.

“So what have you been up to?” Steve asked, following him into the house, grabbing something that Danny couldn’t see.

“Oh, this and that, you know.” Danny chuckled as he continued to frantically clean up the mess. Throwing a baby blanket over to the other side of the sofa, grabbing some baby bottles and putting them in the sink before laying a dish towel over it to hide them.

“Are- are you okay? You seem stressed.”

“No! No, I’m good, so how- how’s medicine?” Danny said, turning to smile at Steve for a second but not really listening as he continued running around.

“Fascinating, yeah. We’ve just been doing obstetrics in fact.”

“Oh really?”

“Uh huh. So- so how does Rachel find these breast pumps by the way, some women don’t like them.”

“Oh, total nightmare she says, she even-”

Danny froze as he realized what he had just said.  _Fuck_ , how was he supposed to get out of that one? He slowly looked at Steve who was putting away the breast pump that had been in his hands, what he had managed to grab earlier. “Oh god. How did you…”

“Catherine told me. She saw you and Rachel walking with a stroller. It all makes sense now, why you’ve been avoiding me.” Steve sounded like he was trying to keep his true feelings about the situation in check, his face blank as he looked everywhere but at Danny.

There was a long pause before Danny spoke again, his voice soft. “I was going to tell you, Steve. I promise.”

“When?” Steve answered, looking up at him again, and the hurt look on his face pained Danny. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go, but he didn’t have a choice. He had to tell the truth now.

“I didn’t- I didn’t want to hold you back.” Finally, as the words left his mouth, Danny already felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

**

They had been talking for hours as they sat on the grass by the beach. Steve had been mostly quiet, letting Danny explain himself.

“I think- not telling you, it was a way to keep the dream alive, you know? So there was at least someone out there who still just saw me as Danny and not this strange new person I’ve become.”

Steve watched him for a minute, before holding out his hand. Danny took it, squeezing lightly, and somehow that was all it took to make everything feel easy between them again.

“Can I see her?”

**

Rachel opened the door, dish towel on one shoulder, the surprise on her face clear when she saw who Danny was with. “… Hi?”

“Hey,” Danny and Steve both said at the same time. Rachel lifted one eyebrow.

“Steve is visiting so we thought we would stop by so he could meet Grace. Oh, and here’s all the stuff you asked for.” Danny handed her the bag he’d been preparing earlier, and she smiled as she took it and moved to let them in.

“Thank you. I’ll- I’ll just give you two a minute. Grace is sleeping in the nursery, you can go check on her.”

“Thanks,” Steve said, a little awkward as the two of them went past Rachel and to the hallway where the nursery was.

Danny bent over the crib to pick up a sleeping Grace, his movements as quiet and soft as possible. Steve stared at them for a long time, the fond smile on his face growing when Danny offered him to hold her.

“Our whole life is pretty much feeding, winding and nappies. I had no idea how much we would need to think about poo, too.” Danny said, and they both chuckled at that.

Steve went quiet as he rocked Grace in his arms. “Can I be godfather?”

Danny smiled brightly, his heart feeling so full it could burst any minute now. “I’d love nothing more.”

Before they knew it Steve had to fly home again, and Danny felt like it hurt even more now than it did the first time.

**

**_5 years later_ **

The years passed, and Danny found that life had gotten much easier over time. His little monkey was five years old now, her first year at school coming up, and she had grown up to be absolutely wonderful. Even though Danny and Rachel had decided to break up a year ago, they did everything they could to be good parents to Grace and so far they had come up with a shared plan that worked well for all of them.

Steve had started dating Catherine again, and they’d lived together for about two years now. They still kept in touch with Danny and Rachel, sending Christmas cards and birthday presents, and Steve even recorded some videos for Grace regularly.

Danny found the whole thing a little bit weird, but he knew that his friend Kono was right. He’d of course told her the whole story with regular updates, and she’d said that if Steve was happy there was nothing that could be done now. And Danny had mostly accepted that.

Now, as Danny thought about how glad he was that his life had turned out pretty good for the most part, that maybe he could do something fun now that it had slowed down a bit, his phone buzzed.

_Steve: I dreamt I was an arrow. The little metal bit right at the tip of an arrow, whizzing through the air._

_Danny: What did it feel like?_

_Steve: Weird._

_Danny: Don’t worry, you always have dreams like that. :)_

Something about Steve’s messages sounded a little off, Danny noted to himself, but it seemed Steve had found the perfect life out there so he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was.

_Steve: I miss you Danny. Please come visit, ok?_

Danny smiled at his phone. Maybe he would do exactly that.


End file.
